Recommended by Andrew Martineau

This is a five minute play that packs a punch! Charming is so clueless, and yet the audience knows his charm is razor thin and he doesn’t really want to be in love as much as adored. Princess is beautifully self-actualized. Great short play for teens and young audiences, and even older people who grew up on these misguided fairy tales!

A meditation on the unspoken love, presumably, from a father who seemed to work hard for his son and had trouble expressing it in words. While this is a familiar scenario for many, sadly, Peercy injects this short play with some intrigue about what to do with a box that is found after the father’s death. What is unique about this brief drama is how the son reacts to the discovery and the mixed feelings that come with it. Heartbreakingly realistic.

In a culture that places questionable value on the concept of measurable success and value to society, Jonathan Cook’s premise of replaceable persons is fascinating and a little terrifying. The Frankenstein story has been taken to the next level here, and it begs the question: how do love and commitment factor into what ultimately can give a person their value? I was so enthralled because it made me question my own choices and feelings of regret. Amazing idea and perfect for the ten minute format!

I never could have imagined a restaurant scene involving a recycling of gourmet food and a second date causing so much distress, but this play is fresh, funny and loaded with social commentary. It made me think about the whole “farm to table” trend in a different light and consider what might be going overboard on how we consume new (or perhaps old) food while paying exorbitant prices for the experience. I give this the highest ranking—three stars!

I just saw a production of this play at the Studio Theatre in DC, and couldn’t believe a play that centers on a high school textual analysis of a classic play could be so riveting and thought-provoking. It was also funny, touching and exuberant. I hope Belflower’s play is read and seen as a companion piece to the classic around the country, at least on the college level. It is truly spellbinding.

The dramatic tension in this short play is high from the get-go, but Taube manages to keep building upon the conflict in unexpected ways. The academic politics are combined with racial prejudice to create a tense yet fascinating take on two teachers with the same job and very different experiences. A great acting challenge and probing questions for the audience. Excellent work!

This play “closes in” page by page with astonishing dialogue that keeps you guessing about the sanity of this man whose paranoia about conspiracy theories has reached a breaking point. Davis had me feeling a wide range of emotions, primarily disgust for Ben’s bigoted rants, and by the end I realized this play could have one only possible ending, and it is perfect. So good!

"Grand Dragon in Power" would make an amazing companion piece with Baker's "Trade with Klan" for an ambitious repertory theatre to produce on separate nights. Both pieces evoke a time and place from long ago in the Midwest that is eerily relevant to today, and not just in one region of the country. Creative non-fiction is a challenge to dramatize, but Baker does it so well and makes it seem so effortless. These plays need audiences to shed light on how one man's thirst for power and unchecked privilege make him increasingly monstrous with each scene. Exceptional on many levels.

This bold play confronts its audience with humor that dares to make us laugh and asks us if it is ever okay to make off-color, generally offensive jokes in the workplace if the coworkers are okay with them. This “if a tree falls in the woods on the wrong ears, do we pretend not to hear it” question is bound to spark a lively discussion about racial and cultural sensitivities when office dynamics change. So very intriguing!

This is a very funny play about death and coming to terms with it and the transition to the next stage. It has some interesting things to say about the value of customer service work and their daily grind, as well as the desire to resist mortality when we still have a full schedule here on Earth. I would love to see the little Zoom image of someone wearing a dinosaur onesie. Inspired comic writing!